High school football: John Gibbons elected into 2015 Coaches Association Hall of Fame

Back in 1966, when John Gibbons had used up his college football eligibility at John Carroll and had yet to finish his degree, the last thing on his mind was being a hall-of-famer.
Come next June, that’s exactly what Gibbons will be.
The longtime area head football coach at Lake Catholic, St. Edward and Bedford has been named as one of the six members of the 2015 class of the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Gibbons will be officially inducted next June in Columbus, with his plaque being on display with the rest of the hall of famers in prestigious Ohio Stadium on the campus of The Ohio State University.
“It is special,” Gibbons, who is now an assistant coach at Lake Catholic, said. “You can’t help but to be taken back by it. Seeing the people who are already in it and how many outstanding coaches there are in Ohio, to be selected is overwhelming, to be honest.”
Besides Gibbons, the other 2015 inductees are Jim Henson (Grand Valley), John Kelley (New Concord John Glenn), John Magistro (Bellaire/Westerville Central), Arte Altomare (Leetonia) and Stan Jefferson (Mansfield Senior/Ohio State).
The news of his election caught him offguard.
“I was working Mike Moran’s basketball camp at Lost Nation,” he said. “I answered the phone and it was Tom Pavlansky (of the OSFCA association). He said I was elected to the hall of fame. I was like, ‘Really?’
“I was honestly speechless.”
Gibbons looks back on his gridiron football history as a fun journey. He said he wasn’t even sure he wanted to be a coach when Father Sullivan from St. Ignatius called John Carroll looking for an assistant football coach.
“Next thing you know I’m with Pat Gallagher coaching 100 freshmen,” Gibbons said.
Gibbons came to Lake Catholic in 1980 as the head boys basketball coach and defensive coordinator for the football team. He eventually took over as head coach, a position he held through the 1999 season, and led the Cougars to state championships in 1991 and 1992.
Gibbons moved to coach at St. Edward for eight years and Bedford for three years before returning to Lake Catholic as an assistant.
Gibbons credits the fellow coaches he worked with over the years for his success, saying, “No one man does it by himself by any means.”
He also credited his family, particularly his wife Patty. The Gibbons’ have 10 children, including Euclid head football coach Tom Gibbons an Beachwood head football coach Mike Gibbons.
Son-in-law Tom Lombardo is the head coach at Medina Highland, part of what Gibbons calls a ‘football family,’ rich with 26 grandchildren.
“My wife is just exceptional,” Gibbons said. “What she’s done to fill in where a dad would normally be there... I could never come close to doing what I’m doing without her sacrifices. Her time and support has been so instrumental.”
The OHSFCA Hall of Fame began in 1970, with an introductory class that included legendary coach Paul Brown. The second class included long-time Ohio State coach Woody Hayes.